


For All You Poor Lost Souls

by shadowalkingangels



Category: Personal Short Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 17:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19234180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowalkingangels/pseuds/shadowalkingangels
Summary: Duis at est optimus.





	For All You Poor Lost Souls

**Author's Note:**

> Duis at est optimus.

I hear a creak and look behind me. "Hey, buddy we might need to leave really soon." He continues rummaging through the garbage as I look up and see the back door of the grocery store open.

"Hey! Get out of the dumpster!" The store manager yells as she finally sees us.

"And that's our cue! Let's go, Flip!" I hop out of the dumpster and turn around to wait for him.

He pops his head out of the dumpster and grins stupidly as he holds a bag in his mouth. I grab the cloth bag and set it down gently, as he's been known to grab valuable things that we can resell, then help the big dog out of the dumpster. "I said let's go!"

-

We stop a couple of blocks away, where my bike is leaning against a building near the back of an alleyway.

"I really hope you grabbed something good, Flip, cause I got nothing out of my digging." I set the cloth bag down before I remove my own and unzip it. I look inside it for a second before pulling out two cans of tuna, some two-day-old bread, and a small multi-tool to open the knotted cloth bag and the cans of tuna. I sit beside my bag and Flip, "You hungry boy?"

As I begin to open a can of tuna, I hear a faint 'mew'. "What the hell did you grab, buddy?" I pull a blade out from the multi-tool and carefully cut the knot off the bag. The small, fuzzy, ginger head of a kitten pops out. It looks around before finally seeing me and greeting me with another 'mew'.

"A cat? The most vicious dog known to man grabs a kitten out of a dumpster and doesn't kill it?" Flip looks at the scruffy animal, tilting his head at every squeak it makes.

The kitten scrambles out of the bag and sits right in front of me. 'mew?' it seems to ask while boring holes with its eyes into the can of tuna I'm holding.

"You hungry little guy?" I pick a piece out and offer it to the kitten. The tiny creature practically tears off my finger as it lunges for the chunk of fish. "I guess that answers my question." I sigh and open the other can as well, draining the liquid from both cans into another, older one I saved. "Here you go." I offer the juice to the kitten. It starts licking up the tuna water. "Well, I can't just leave you. I guess since you're staying with us I should give you a name."

I take a good look at the small animal, which is pretty beat up. "Who attacked you little guy?" I slowly reach over and touch its ear, which is missing a small chunk from the tip. It hisses and spits and takes a few limping steps away from me. "Still sore? I'll be careful." It looks up at me and I notice a few scars on its little head, with ears that look way too big. "You kind of look like a tiny goblin, but that's a little mean. How about Gremlin?"

The kitten doesn't reply, obviously, but it does come back and continue drinking the tuna water. I drop a couple of pieces of tuna in there and then split the rest between Flip and me, each of us getting a piece of bread as well. "Since you grabbed Gremlin out of the dumpster, you better help me care for him, uh, her?" I say to Flip before realizing I don't know if the kitten is a boy or girl. "I'll check later. But now we have to get home." Flip quickly finishes his portion, then walks over to Gremlin, licking the scruffy kitten's face clean.

I pack up the majority of our stuff before realizing I have no way to transport the kitten. There's no way it's going to just ride on my shoulder or my closed backpack. 

"Hey Flip, c' mere boy." I take off my sweater and tie it around him, making a small pouch on his side. "There you go! It's like one of those little dog backpacks that can carry puppies!" I gently pick up Gremlin and lower them into the bag. "I know you don't understand me but you gotta stay there until I get you again." The kitten looks up at me and mews from its bag. "Yeah, you gotta stay there." I gently pet its head and close the little pouch up a bit.

"Alright Flip lets get home!" I walk my bike out of the alleyway, looking back to check on the kitten every few seconds. "It's now or never I guess," I say to myself as I get on my bike and begin the journey home.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Flip! Let's take the short way." I say as I take a sharp right. I want to get the kitten home as soon as I can. We go a couple more blocks and turn left into an alleyway behind a very old, very abandoned building. I get off my bike and walk it further into the alley. I tuck it under a mound of old trash and a piece of cardboard, popping the chain off and locking my breaks up so nobody can move it if it does get found. I don't need to lose another bike.

I walk to the fire escape and climb up the rope ladder I have hanging down. I release the metal fire ladder and wait for Flip to climb up. He does so carefully, hooking his paws over the bar and hoisting himself up, making sure to not dump the kitten.

“Good job Flip, there you go.” I pull down the next fire ladder, which I can reach when I jump. I climb up again and repeat the process once more before opening one of the windows and crawling through. I prop it open for Flip and stand in the abandoned apartment. I stretch and look around at the familiar sight. Water damage all over the walls and a nearly caved in roof, held up by some large planks of wood the last squatters probably dragged up.

I search through the drawers for the thousandth time, hoping to find something new that I've missed in the last times I've come through this way. Finding nothing new in the drawers, I look through some of the trash on the floor, finding some dimes and nickels, as well as a whole dollar bill tucked under the trim on the floor near the door to the apartment's bathroom. 

“Look at that Flip! We're rich!” I say jokingly to the shaggy mutt, who's currently laying in the middle of the floor, being careful of Gremlin. He looks at me and gets up, careful not to disturb the kitten, who's awfully quiet. 

“Hey little Gremlin, you doin' alright little dude?” I walk over and peer into the pouch. The tiny creature is curled up and sound asleep. 

“Well, let's not bug him and get home,” I say to Flip. I open the front door to the apartment and let him through before following him out and closing the door behind me. We walk down the hall a bit and reach a walkway constructed of wooden boards from one very broken window to another across the alleyway. I start to cross it when I hear voices. 

“Shh, Flip get down.” I back off the boards quickly just as two police officers round the corner and gaze around the alley.

“I heard there were a bunch of kids living in these old apartments.” The shorter mentions to her partner.

“The apartments are all locked up. They're to be torn down in a few months anyway, so we shouldn't worry too much. Once the first building goes down they'll all scatter like rats.” The taller, mustached one says, peering around again before motioning his partner to move on.

“Did you hear that Flip? They're gonna tear down our home!” I cry to him once the cops are out of earshot. I angrily cross the planks and wait for Flip on the other side. Once he's across, we go through that apartment and up the indoor flight of stairs.

Three doors down and on the left, we finally arrive at our home. 

“Jack! We're back! And we have a new friend!” I call out as I take the makeshift pouch off of Flip.

“Did you bring home another stray?” Jack asks, looking at me.

I uncover Gremlin and set them down, checking to see their sex as I do. “Ah, he's a boy! Yes, I did. I didn't intend on doing it, but Mr. Sniffs-A-Lot found the poor thing in a grocery store dumpster. I couldn't just leave him. He's a little beat up. But he likes tuna! He'll fit right in.”

The ginger kitten looks around, squinting sleepily at everything as he tries to wake up from his interrupted nap. He sees one of our beds and makes a beeline for it. “Woah there Mister, you better share!” I follow him over and sit on the bed. The scruffy little monster lays in the middle of the pile of blankets, curled up into a little ball.

“I heard some bad news, Jack. Some cops were in the alley and I heard them talking about tearing down the place.” I look up at my older brother as he brushes his shoulder-length black hair out of his face. I don't know how he stands to have hair that long.

**Author's Note:**

> I am NOT finished with this. This will be a multi-part story that I will work on. I'm not even finished with the first part, I just needed to get it somewhere.
> 
> Recently updated a bit, still unsure exactly what I'm doing with this.


End file.
